Fruit Bats w/Minor Moon 8/14/25 Spaceland

 Sometimes I arrive at a show circuitously. 2024 Green River fest highlight Bonny Light Horseman is an indie folk power trio anchored by songbird Anais Mitchell. Another third of that group is Eric D. Johnson, a long haired axe wielder with great vocal harmony chops. Johnson fronts his own group, Chicago’s Fruit Bats. I arrive early to catch most of opener Minor Moon. Turns out the lead Sam (there are three Sams and a bass playing Meredith) grew up in West Hartford and played the no alcohol Space venue to some enthusiastic aunts and uncles back in the day. A well crafted set of indie pop nuggets ensued. The playing was assured and lead Sam had a good way with the audience. Next up was the Fruit Bats. Johnson was definitely in charge and was joined by expert musicians on lead guitar, drums, bass, and keys. The music was familiar and soothing which explained the sold out 50/50 male to female crowd. Johnson cites The Byrds and The Kinks as influences but I heard a lot of Jayhawks in this mix. Tight four minute song structure backed by thoughtful lyrics spilled from Johnson. His vocals had a slight helium inflection which was not annoying, but charming. I’m not too familiar with the catalog, but the sold out crowd sung along with most tunes. Johnson was engaging, even hopping off stage at one point and belting out a tune with the crowd. Eric’s signature hair gets swung around like he was in Queensryche. Enjoyable show for a sweltering August night.

Newport Jazz Festival 8/2/25 Fort Adams

 Gorgeous weather was a fitting backdrop for my annual trek to the Fort.  Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride is the current talent wrangler of this storied fest. He tries to drive a wide swath of artists sometimes to a disjointed affair. After an arduous security gauntlet, we make it to the field.  First up on the main stage:

Nubya Garcia: British sax wailer Garcia is part of the new young lions. With cohorts like Shabaka Hutchings and Theon Cross, the UK contingent wows crowds with their skills while incorporating a wide variety of styles. Elements of dub and classical are seamlessly added to her jazz chops.

Knower: Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi are LA based multi-instrumentalists  who create electronic dance and funk. A crowded Quad stage made viewing difficult, and the music seemed better suited for sweaty club happenings.

Dianne Reeves: Hailed as the jazz vocal successor to Betty Carter or Carmen McCrae, Reeves is an accomplished scat vocalist who interprets the world songbook with ease. Anchoring the main stage, she kept the old jazzbos engaged.

Fleck, Castaneda, Sanchez Trio: An unusual but excellent smash, the Quad stage had banjo artist Bela Fleck, Edmar Castaneda on harp, and Antonio Sanchez on drums. Banjo and harp exchanged fluid runs that were mesmerizing. Not since Alice Coltrane have I seen such expert use of jazz harp. Watching Edmar on the big screen gave you a feel for just how difficult the instrument is to play, he rocked back and forth as if he was tangoing with the thing. Bela  has wowed me on multiple occasions, while older and grayer, he still moves the banjo from the Appalachian porch to all corners of the world. His excellent documentary of him travelling through Africa playing impromptu jams with villagers is great. Fleck’s cover of Help On The Way from the Day of The Dead tribute with The Wood Brothers and Zakir Hussein remains one of my favorite cover/tribute tunes.

Flying Lotus: I was unclear how Steven Ellison’s Flying Lotus project would translate live. The recordings are expansive afrofuturist blowouts with the likes of Thom Yorke, Kamasi Washington, and Kendrick Lamar doing stints. He did a DJ set with trippy visuals which got the young kids bumping and most older patrons running for the other stages. Ellison is the grand nephew of John and Alice Coltrane which boosts his jazz pedigree.

Janelle Monae: Closing out the Saturday at the fest was actress, model, musician, spokesperson, and all around overachiever Monae. Her costumes and stage presence were intimidating. While on the podium, she had a roadie open a large cape for her to change looks without leaving the stage. A large band with horns, keys, drums, guitar, bass, and two gogo dancers were in stark contrast to Flying Lotus’ solo perch. Her setlist was posted:Float, Champagne Shit, Django Jane, QUEEN, Electric Lady,  Lipstick Lover, Pynk, I Like That, and did a sizable encore Make Me Feel, Cold War, Tightrope, and Come Alive ( the last tune I’m told is the theme to the cheesy reality show Love Island.Monae is a chameleonic presence that had the crowd bobbing back to their cars.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard 7/30/25 Westville Bowl

 For those of you who have ever uttered the phrase “it was a little jammy”, should probably back off from this post. KG&TLW are the torchbearers of the jam genre. The group looked to be 6 or 7 strong, but it was difficult to tell from my vantage point. From Melbourne, the band is known for its omnivorous musical appetite and prolific recorded output. Krautrock, psychedelia, metal, disco were all safe targets for these guys. Their legendary live shows are a tapers dream, and they have been known to release 5 records in a year. The recent release,  Phantom Island was showcased. The group was backed by the Orchestra of St Luke’s a chamber outfit from Philly conducted by Sarah Hicks. Looked to be about 30 pieces, strings brass and percussion tried to keep up with the Aussie dervishes. There was even a monstrous harp, cuz why not?  I’m not too familiar with their catalog, but the setlist went as follows: Phantom Island, Deadstick,  Lonely Cosmos, Eternal Return, Panpsych, Spacesick, Aerodynamic, Sea of Doubt, Silent Spirit, Grow Wings and Fly, Hot Water. While there was no discernible setbreak, the internet listed a set two with: The River, Crumbling Castle,  This Thing, Mars for the Rich,  Dragon,  and closed with the anthemic Iron Lung. Truly an egalitarian affair, four band members sang, each with a different vibe, one was punky, one sounded like Elton John, the mix and match was dizzying. The guy who sang most played a flying V guitar, and did an amazing flute bit. The crowd was predominantly 20 year olds, and they truly packed the Bowl on this steamy evening. Towards the end of the show, a contingent of revellers in front of the stage started running in a counterclockwise circle that looked like a whirlpool of humanity. Musicians have been jamming for centuries, the intoxicating notion of playing at a frenetic pace in a band situation is best experienced live. For me, the 1971 Fillmore East recording by the Allman Brothers blessed us with the ultimate jam In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.  A headstone in Macon was the impetus for that song.  My recent orchestral experience at the Bowl had Beck tastefully shaded, while these Aussies dared the orchestra to follow. From Macon to Melbourne, when life deals you a cornucopia of styles, some might make lemonade, the Gizz makes jam.

Carroll-Rhodes-Testa-Dragan w/ Hissquiet and The // Moon 7/25/25 Neverending Books

 The // Moon is a solo computer DJ project. A young man in a baseball hat sidles up to the card table. His rig is an effects box and MacBook. He produces dreamy beats flecked with sampled vocal snippets. The backdrop was an impressionistic video projection controlled by a young techie. I could watch him slide from icon to icon producing hypnotic visuals on the lo-fi bookstore projection screen, okay it is a white sheet tacked to the window frame. Some vocal samples sounded like library spoken word, but he leaned heavily on what sounded like a voicemail from his grandma stating that she “may have hit her head, so her memory isn’t great, but she would never forget your birthday”. This series usually leans on noise and experimental offerings, The//Moon owed more to DJ Shadow than Xenakis and the music was thoroughly enjoyable.

hissquiet is another solo project from the artist Ash Farrand. They/them are a sound engineer, web developer, and graphic designer who hits the card table with a circuit box and a crockpot. It wasn’t really a crockpot, but a large steel lobster pot. They started their set with an iPad depicting some young Latino kids singing in their native tongue. They dunked the iPad into the pot to give off a weird echoey effect. The circuit box had a tangle of patch cords that were manipulated in conjunction with the pot. Metal objects, a macrame widget were swished around the pot to ethereal effects. Their partner and a small Korgi sat lovingly in front of the card table until a loud apparently unplanned screech forced them out of the store. The music is self-described as dark ambient.

The headlining troupe was Anne Rhodes on voice and computer, Carl Testa on standup bass, Jeff Dragan on computer/ effects, and Marie Carroll on koto. Rhodes is a local avant scenester who I have seen at the Firehouse with NHIC and gargling with local accordionist Adam Matlock at the State House. She takes her place on the elevated stage as a kind of ASMR master of ceremonies. Her treated giggling and whispering made for excellent percussion. Testa is a regional pro who anchored the group on bass. He tapped the bass body in addition to plucking and bowing. Jeff Dragan runs this series at the bookstore and goes by the name FiFacs House.  Meant to give Jeff a recurring gig, FH has given spotlight to local outsider musicians who aren’t easily pigeonholed. Carroll has no pigeonhole. Her instrument is an 8’  Japanese koto. The instrument looked like a stringed diving board with a sigmoid spine of bridges to give the strings multiple sounds. The koto was 2.5 times the size of Carroll, with no obvious helper, I am amazed at how she must transport the thing.  I quipped to my seat mates “that’s no koto, that’s a Komodo koto”, my joke fell flat. A set of free improv with a truly unique set of instruments made for a compelling listen.

Beck with the Westville Philharmonic 7/15/25 Westville Music Bowl

 A career that could have easily rode into the sunset on the proceeds of the rap slacker anthem “Loser”, has thankfully pinged through a myriad of styles, collaborations, and years to grace us with mononomic Beck. Over 30 years, I  have had the pleasure to view his live shows. Be it the seminal punk rap mashup of the Odelay record at Lollopalooza 2, the cheesy Kmartfunk of the Midnite Vultures record at Massmoca, and now the” wouldn’t it be cool to get an orchestra” to flesh out the Sea Change and Morning Phase records at the Bowl. A 60 piece orchestra allowed for lush arrangements of the ballad heavy recordings. Beck, still the nerdy waif of his 20s, fronts the troupe with an acoustic and a snarky sense of humor. He regales us with stories of stupidly turning down stints with the lucrative Shrek soundtracks and the ominous career twilight use of an orchestra. The setlist didn’t disappoint: Cycle, The Golden Age, Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime (Korgis, cover),  Lonesome Tears, Wave, Tropicalia, Blue Moon, Lost Cause,  The New Pollution, Missing, Tarantula (Colourbox cover dedicated to the tennis goths),  It’s Raining Today and Montague Terrace ( both Scott Walker tunes),  Round The Bend, Paper Tiger, We Live Again, Waking Light, and concluded the orchestra set with Where Its At. He does a lengthy encore with just band, the bluesy harmonica One Foot in the Grave, Devils Haircut, Mixed Business, and closed with the anthemic Loser.  The nosebleed seats were the perfect place to view on this steamy evening. The arrangements, assisted by Beck’s father, were expertly delivered by the orchestra. Strings, brass, percussion added a dimension to the catalog usually reserved for headphones. As the orchestra leaves the stage, the ever kooky Beck waves “bye bye trombones”, tries to pick up a gaggle of flautists “ where’re you guys going now?” and goofs at the percussionists “this dude left his phone on the smoke machine”. A true musical chameleon, he didn’t even touch my personal fave Guero. Many artists kneel at the altar of cult 60s crooner Scott Walker and Beck used the orchestra to scratch that itch. Very happy this artist did not stop at the unwitting success of Loser.

Blink 7/12/25 Neverending Books

Chance googling and an interesting bio  for Blink leader Jorrit Dijkstra led me to the bookstore. The abysmal website indicated this show was to happen sometime between 6 and 10. Arriving at 8ish, I thought to catch the tail end of the set. I caught the very tale end, like the last tune. If there are any concert promoters reading, please describe the event accurately. In this instance, doors at 6, show at 7, and if you arrive at 830, you almost miss. The event listing should not be driven by spreadsheet geometry. Dijkstra is a sax player who was joined in the tiny bookstore space by two guitarists, electric bass, and drums. A friend mentioned a distinct Ornette vibe, which was evident for my brief viewing. Jorrit, from Amsterdam, has retained the European jazz sound from his youth. Now an Associate Professor at Berklee in Boston, Jorrit has many avenues to explore and improvise. His recent projects include a quartet Bolt, The Porch Trio, and the large ensemble Bathysphere in Boston. He helms a group called The Whammies who celebrate the music of soprano legend Steve Lacy. After the show, Jorrit explained his desire to command a guitar-centric group. Berklee is a melting pot of musical ideas, and it seems Jorrit is happy to tap in to the multi-faceted scene.

PAKT w/ Head With Wings 7/8/25 Spaceland

 Head With Wings are local progsters who jumped at the chance to open this show. A quintet with lead guitar, rhythm guitar, five string bass, drums, and singer. These guys are available whenever a top tier outfit sails through the area. They look to be in their 30s, so the prog had a touch of grunge mixed in. Lead guitar gave some nifty slide work and the 5 string bass added nice color. The singer was a character, engaging with the obligatory prog heckler. He had a normal singing voice that often elevated to a higher register, I mean a kick in the balls octave jump. He also switched gears into a creepy horror movie squelch. The lyrics followed the cosmic prog vibe, I mean mountains come out of the sky and were supposed to believe they, what, just stand there?

PAKT are an instrumental supergroup led by fretless bass phenom Percy Jones, Alex Skolnick on guitar, Kenny Grohowski on drums and electronics, and Tim Motzer on guitar and electronics. Jones played on some of the seminal Eno recordings and helmed the group Brand X. The fretless bass is a wonder to view allowing for rubbery runs. Jones hands were so large, they were necessary for his sound. Skolnick was mentored by Joe Satriani and did time in the progmetal band Testament. Grohowski had the Crimson mammoth kit and was in constant motion. Motzer played multiple guitars and moved his sound through an effects box that could bend the sound in many ways. The other members thanked Motzer for wrangling this tour. The music was all improvised but had an effortless feel in the hands of these pros.